The present invention relates to a process for preparing halogenosilanes by a redistribution reaction. There are known methods in which two different silicon compounds are subjected to a redistribution reaction in the presence of an amine, such as stearyl amine or aniline or a Lewis acid, such as aluminum chloride or iron(III) chloride to obtain a valuable silicon compound which is different from either of the starting silicon compounds (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,065,252 and No. 3,101,361). The prior art methods are disadvantaged, for example, by that the reaction must be carried out under pressure at a high temperature over 150.degree. C. Such reaction conditions cause complicated side reactions to take place simultaneously and, as a result, the yields of the intended silicon compounds will be reduced, while the separation and recovery of the products from the reaction mixtures will sometimes be very difficult.
Furthermore, a redistribution reaction has been proposed between a siloxane reactant and a chlorosilane in the presence of a hexaalkylphosphotriamide (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,646,088), in which the cleavage of a silicon-oxygen bond takes place and one fragment of the siloxane is combined with the chlorine atom from the chlorosilane, while the other fragment of the siloxane is combined with the residue of the chlorosilane. When this process is employed as a means for preparing the desired chlorosilane, however, it is disadvantaged by low yields because only one fragment of the siloxane is converted to the chlorosilane.